Along Came Ziro Reviewed By Amy Lignor of Bookpleasures.com

Amy Lignor

Reviewer Amy Lignor: Amy is the
author of a historical fiction novelÂ entitledÂ The Heart
of a Legend, andÂ Mind Made,Â aÂ work of
science fiction. Presently, she is writing an adventure series set in the New York Public Library, as well as a teen fiction series, The Angel Chronicles.Â She is an avid traveler and has
been fortunate to have journeyed across the USA, where she has met the most
amazing people, who truly bring life and soul to her books.Â She
lives in the Land of Enchantment (for now) with her gorgeous
daughter, Shelby, her wonderfulÂ Mom, Mary, and the greatest
friend and criticÂ in the entire world - her dog, Reuben

I know…I never usually review
children’s books because there are people much better at it than I,
but when I saw this one I HAD to have it. This is a truly
wonderful story about a little alien who lands on a farm because he
and his “friends” are exploring. Ziro is not a scary, bad
alien; in fact, he’s the cutest thing I’ve seen since E.T.
(He’s round and blue, and his ship is a giant white ball with
stubby little wings). And the wisdom that he evokes is
something that everyone, adults, children, politicians – pretty
much everyone – should read, understand, and remember that there
was a time when there was a shot that we’d all get along well and
enjoy life.

Ziro smiles a great deal and, even
though the barnyard animals are a bit frightened by the new little
guy, his words about hope, faith, and dreams make the cows, pigs,
sheep, etc. feel better about life. Unfortunately, the farmer
hears their noise and comes out to investigate. Now, the farmer
isn’t nice; he’s very gruff and he’s also the one who will come
into the barnyard – take a chicken, cow, or sheep – and they are
never seen or heard from again. So the animals are a bit afraid
of him. But…when he comes out to check on all the noise, they
hide Ziro so that nothing can happen to their new, strange friend.

Ziro, seeing how full of fear the
barnyard animals are, offer them a ride into his world where all the
news is happy – not bad – and offers a way for all living things
to see far-off different places and meet the people and creatures
that live there. You see, it doesn’t matter if they speak
differently, or look differently, Ziro believes that you can simply
make friends because you’re friendly. He also believes that
traveling to other lands and meeting people unlike yourself is a good
thing. He teaches acceptance. (Certainly a “novel”
concept nowadays).

On top of the story being fantastic and
teaching a pretty great lesson to children, the illustrations in the
book are great, as well. The author is an L.A. based
writer/character designer whose resume includes companies like
DreamWorks, and Electronic Arts (EA). With that knowledge
alone, readers can certainly know ahead of time that this author
definitely knows their business. On top of that, there is a
wonderful website to check out about the book that offers shirts,
mugs, etc. with Ziro prominently displayed.

I, for one, hope that Ziro becomes a
new series of books for kids; this little alien’s thoughts about
sweetness, friendship, acceptance, and hope are certainly character
traits that ALL of us should study and try like heck to adopt as our
own. Bravo Ziro!